Rotating cylinder block piston-cylinder engines are known, but the most common type is the type in which the piston rods are pivotably connected by crank pins to the piston, and rotatably connected to a fixed eccentric crank shaft, so that as the pistons are driven inwardly in the cylinders, the piston rods, as the rotor rotates and the reaction force is transmitted to the rotor, oscillate back and forth transverse to the axis of movement of the pistons. This common type is simply the reverse of a conventional radial piston-cylinder engine in which the cylinders are radially positioned in a fixed cylinder block around a conventional crank shaft and the pistons are connected to crank shaft by conventional oscillating piston rods.
The disadvantage of this common type of rotating cylinder block engine is that the forces which are set up by the oscillating piston rods at high rotational speeds are detrimental to the operation and the structure of the engine, requiring robust parts, and causing considerable wear and breakage of parts, similar to a conventional rotary engine.
There have been two proposals for a rotating cylinder block piston-cylinder engine similar to that of the present invention having piston rods rigid with the pistons. The first of these is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,445,474 to Benson et al., in which the cylinder block 5 is a rotor rotatably mounted around a shaft, and pistons 7 are reciprocal in cylinders in the rotor, and the piston rods from the cylinders engage a reaction member 4 which is eccentrically mounted on the shaft 3 through rollers 9. The rollers are held against the eccentric portion 4 by a ring 10 therearound. A similar engine is disclosed in British Patent No. 425278 of 1935, in the name of James Ferguson Edington. The Edington patent discloses a motor similar to that of Benson et al., but in which the engagement of the piston rods with the eccentric portion d is through sliders f which slide in a groove in the eccentric reaction member.
In both of these motors, the problem of the oscillating connecting rods is overcome, since the rods extending from the pistons are rigid with the pistons and reciprocate radially of the axis about which the rotor rotates. However, in both of these engines, the engagement of the piston rods with the reaction member is through a means which will generate great amounts of friction. In the case of Edington, the sliders f must slide on the reaction member and will, to a considerable degree, slide in engagement with the portion of the reaction member which defines the outer edge of the groove in which the sliders slide. In the case of Benson et al., it would appear that the rollers would roll smoothly between the eccentric member 4 and the ring 10 therearound. In fact, however, because the rollers on the ends of the piston rods must roll back and forth along the surface of the reaction member 4 during their rotation around the axis of rotation of the rotor 5, this will cause them to move in rubbing engagement with the inner surface of the ring 10. It will be understood that if one of the rollers is rolling along the surface of the eccentric member 4, for example in a clockwise direction around the eccentric member 4, the roller will be rolling counterclockwise, and the outer portion of the periphery thereof will be moving counterclockwise along the inner surface of the ring 10 and will rub against this surface rather than roll along it. This will of course create a great deal of friction.
At high speeds, the frictional forces in both of these prior art engines are extremely high, and make them impractical for use.